Karmine Corp has introduced Les Arènes, a new gaming and esports venue in the heart of Paris’ Évry-Courcouronnes neighborhood. The 3000-seat venue will act as the organization’s headquarters for internal events, competitions, and friendly matches for all of its esports teams.
Les Arènes has stood in Paris for many years and is a publicly owned facility run by the French government. To be clear, it is not a newly developed arena by Karmine Corp. The brand just owns the right to hold its events there.
Karmine Corp has teams competing in four esports: League of Legends, VALORANT, Rocket League and Teamfight Tactics. It is safe to assume that Les Arènes will host events, showmatches, and viewing parties for each of those competitions in the future.
The majority of League fans on the game’s official subreddit have turned the announcement back into Riot’s corner, arguing that Karmine Corp’s venue outperforms the LEC studio.
Riot should make a deal with KC to host the Worlds group stage at that venue,” one League fan commented on Reddit. “It still irritates me that Riot could sell out a 15,000-person stadium for [the] group stage, especially if it is as hyped as MSI was, yet chose to do so in a 200-person LEC studio. Some of my neighborhood tiny LAN parties have attracted over 200 individuals. Riot committed the biggest blunder I have ever witnessed.”
Another fan commented, describing Riot’s LEC studio as a “150 plastic seat arena.”
Riot has frequently conducted Worlds and MSI play-in stages in the LEC studio in Berlin when an international event passes through Europe. While hosting domestic tournaments and regular season games at those studios is useful, the level of importance increases when international teams visit town.
Having big-name professionals play in front of a few hundred people is not only a bad look for an esport that is theoretically on the increase in terms of viewership, but it also represents a missed chance for Riot to engage local fans. Fans will almost always attend international tournaments in person—far more than they would for a typical LEC or LCS matchday—so hosting such global games in a standard arena feels out of place most of the time.
Riot is likely to be concerned in the case of some domestic LoL leagues about selling out a higher-seat-total arena on a regular basis. In the North American LCS, for example, ticket sales are typically low, and crowd shots during broadcasts are frequently limited.
The same can be said for the LEC, but at a much slower pace, as it is one of the more vibrant domestic competitions. However, even with the relative success of the primary European competition in mind, Riot is likely to approach the notion of enlarging the home arena with the goal of seating several hundred more people per week with caution.
“That is hilarious!” Another commentator mentioned that Riot now has third companies paying for and hosting arenas for its events. “How long before LEC games are literally played in the KC arena? Riot is a shell of its former self.
There is also discussion over whether the attention and allegiance of Karmine Corp diehards outweighs that of the LEC’s strongest fans. While it would be a circular argument to say that KCorp is the “bigger” of the two, considering they play in the league, it’s not too outlandish to say they’re the biggest draw in the European LoL scene right now. This past LEC Spring Split, two of the top three most-watched matches of the split were regular season games featuring KCorp, according to esports viewership data site Esports Charts.
When Les Arènes’ plans were first unveiled late last year, supporters expressed concerns about the venue’s long-term impact. Many expected that if Les Arènes could continuously attract followers of a club rather than a league, as they do in traditional sports, it would be a significant step toward legitimizing esports and maybe inspiring other organizations around the world to follow suit.